Are you binging on snacks while watching movies?
Limit overconsumption with this technique!
Have you ever bought popcorn at a movie theater?
You probably planned on getting a small or medium-sized bucket but ended up buying the large one anyway.
The pricing is placed in such a way that the large popcorn bucket is only marginally costlier compared to the medium-sized bucket.
This phenomenon is known as the Decoy effect where they lead you to select an option that you did not initially plan to choose.
I will talk about the Decoy effect later. Here, I want to talk about the unplanned overconsumption that can happen due to such choices.
Behavioural economists Dilip Soman, Jing Xu and Amar Cheema have studied this behaviour.
According to them, individuals deliberate about consumption before they start consuming; but once they start, they jump into an automatic mode where the consumption becomes mindless and habitual.
They suggest the implementation of the Theory of decision points to break out of such habitual behaviour and bring individuals back into a deliberative mode.
What is the theory of decision points?
According to the researchers, “A decision point is any intervention that is designed to get an individual to pause and think about the consumption they are engaging in.”
For example, deciding to eat popcorn is a decision point. Though, once you start consuming there is no interruption to stop this behaviour. The next decision point, if at all, would only appear after the whole bucket is over.
These researchers observed that if instead of giving a large size bucket to a person, the same amount of popcorn is divided into four smaller buckets, the consumption reduces. This phenomenon is called The partitioning effect.
Each smaller bucket acts as a decision point and puts the individual into deliberative mode, breaking the automatic behaviour.
There are three ways in which the theory of decision points can be applied:
- Inserting transaction costs: Putting an additional step between the consumption activity; an air conditioner which turns off every 4 hours and you need to manually turn it on again.
- Providing reminders: Putting a reminder on your mobile that reminds you about the over usage of Netflix or YouTube.
- Creating interruption to the consumption activity: wrapping each cookie in a separate cover to avoid mindless consumption.
You can utilize the theory of decision points to nudge yourself into behaviour change in many places.
If snacks are kept in a cupboard instead of anywhere in your sight, it can help you avoid unnecessary munching.
If your saving and spending bank accounts are separate, it can help you being more disciplined with expenditure and saving.
If you install a simple extension in your browser such as infinite scroll blocker, it can help you avoid the endless scrolling which social media websites intentionally put in place.
If you set the daily time limit for social media apps on your smartphone, it can help you avoid wasting precious time.
Even though such changes sound insignificantly small, they have been proven to work for individuals and communities.
The best part in these tweaks is that you are not forcing yourself against a particular behaviour.
You can still eat all the popcorn or cookies you want. You can use social media for as long as you want. You are just getting a few more opportunities to deliberate the behaviour.
These few simple decision points can slowly help you make small positive changes and lead you to achieve your dream lifestyle.
Let me know in the comments what helps you avoid the overconsumption trap and be consistent with your long-term goals!
Stay tuned for more!
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